At just 18, Gaby Bayona started making dresses out of her apartment with nothing but a sewing machine, some fabric, and the skills she picked up working alongside her mother, a professional seamstress. A decade later, she leads a team of 40 across multiple bridal brands and four retail stores—all while keeping production local in Vancouver.
On this episode of Shopify Masters, Gaby shares how she scaled Truvelle and her other brands organically—bootstrapped with a $15,000 loan—and built a loyal team that’s stayed with her for more than a decade. She opens up about her approach to sustainable production, how she structures her team to avoid burnout, and why saying yes before you’re ready can pay off in the long run.
Growing organically as a one-woman operation
Gaby’s entrepreneurial journey began with a single dress and no business plan. At age 20, after years of custom sewing with her mom, she took a leap and put her first collection on Etsy. She was soon approached by a retailer in Ottawa asking if she could wholesale dresses. She agreed without hesitation.
“I had no idea how to wholesale dresses. … I didn’t even have [standardized] sizes,” Gaby says. “That’s how unprepared I was for this. But I said yes.” That first leap marked the start of Truvelle’s expansion from side hustle to global brand.
Rather than try to scale quickly, Gaby stuck to what she knew. She sewed the dresses herself, fulfilled each order by hand, and used every experience to inform the systems she would eventually teach her team “It made the process of growing my business a lot easier because it all came from firsthand experience,” she says.
Gaby didn’t open her first retail store until she was consistently booked with weekend appointments out of her apartment. “If I can sell four dresses in a month, I’m not losing money. If I’m breaking even with the potential for growth, then that is a good direction."
Building multiple brands with a shared infrastructure
As Truvelle grew, Gaby didn’t create just one brand—she launched four. Each targets a different bridal aesthetic, but they share a core operational backbone. Laudae, launched in 2016, catered to a bolder, sexier bride. Aesling followed in 2019 with minimalist, modern designs. The motivation wasn’t just creative—it was strategic.
“I started creating these other brands so that I could sell to different stores in the same city—or sell to the same store twice,” says Gaby. Bridal shops often require exclusivity zones, and distinct labels allowed her to grow without geographic limitations.
Gaby believes the learning curve shortens with each new venture. “The more you do it, the more used to it you are—and the easier it is to manage,” she says.
Scaling slowly and building a loyal team
Hiring was never a sprint for Gaby. Her first hire was a seamstress she knew through her mom. The second was someone who asked to shadow her. Most of her core team started out working alongside her in her apartment—and have stayed ever since.
“I’ve always taken the approach of making things work for people,” she explains. “You can’t grow a business to any substantial size without having a really strong team.”
Now managing 40 employees, Gaby leans on a structured leadership team. She meets monthly with four core managers who each lead their own teams. “If I were to be hands-on with every single person, I just wouldn’t be able to do a good job managing that many people,” she says.
Gaby learned the hard way about maintaining boundaries. “I was very buddy-buddy with a lot of the people that I worked with,” she says. “It made it so that I wasn’t able to properly manage people.” The experience taught her how to balance trust with clear expectations.
Staying local and sustainable
Many fashion brands outsource production to keep costs down. Gaby doubled down on Vancouver. Every dress is still made locally, which helps her team pivot fast, customize designs, and eliminate inventory waste.
“Local manufacturing has been a huge core part of my growth,” she says. Early on, fabric was expensive, so she learned to puzzle piece patterns to reduce waste—a practice she maintains to this day. “Yes, that does mean things take a little longer for us, but at least we’re not being as wasteful as some of the other fashion companies out there.”
Today, all Truvelle linings are made from recycled fabrics, and every dress is made-to-order. Scraps are donated to design schools or sold at a discount to local designers. “We just try to create in a way that is maximizing our fabric,” Gaby says.
Still, she’s realistic about the challenges of local production: “It is getting harder and harder to manufacture, and not just in Vancouver. The sewing trade is a bit of a dying art.” To future-proof, her team is exploring new ways to support and sustain the talent pipeline—including sponsorships for international sewers.
Creating unforgettable in-store and online experiences
Gaby knows that bridal gowns are typically a once-in-a-lifetime purchase—but one bride can influence a dozen others. The goal is to create unforgettable experiences. Appointments are relaxed, the lighting is soft, and stylists never pressure a sale.
“You want to make sure people just feel really confident and good in their decision,” she says. That mindset extends to social media, too. Instead of outsourcing to agencies, Gaby ran her own TikTok account at first to understand the platform. “When I first started TikTok, I found it really difficult to be able to manage and give insight in the way I’ve always been able to.”
Now, each brand has its own viral account, and online sales have never been higher. Gaby takes a hands-off approach with her team’s content: “If it’s something I don’t like and it’s working, I don’t interfere.”
Gaby Bayona turned a single sewing machine and a passion for dresses into four bridal brands, four stores, and a 40-person team—all without external investors or compromising her values. Her advice to entrepreneurs?
“Start it. Pivot. Be flexible. The quicker you start, the faster those early mistakes happen—and the faster you’re able to move on.”
To learn more about how Gaby is scaling her sustainable bridal fashion brands, catch her full interview on Shopify Masters.
